The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

Sunday, March 13, 2016

The terrorism loophole - Lilach Shoval and Daniel Siryoti

by Lilach Shoval and Daniel Siryoti

The wave of terrorism has turned the spotlight back onto the familiar issue of illegal Palestinian infiltrators • Defense officials say considerable efforts are made to curtail the problem, but admit the military has more pressing threats to counter.

A Palestinian man using a
rope to climb down the security fence near east Jerusalem, last week

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Photo credit: AFP

Two of the terrorists who carried out
Tuesday's attacks in Jaffa and Petach Tikva were in Israel illegally.
Although both terrorists were from Palestinian villages adjacent to the
West Bank city of Qalqilya, authorities believe the attacks were
unrelated, as all signs indicate the two did not know each other.

This is not the first time Palestinians who
are in Israel illegally have carried out terrorist attacks. Countering
the illegal infiltration into Israel has been a priority for the defense
establishment for years, and Shin Bet security agency data suggests
that 28 out of the 254 terrorist attacks that have taken place in Israel
and across Judea and Samaria since the onset of the current wave of
terrorism were perpetrated by illegal Palestinian infiltrators.

These 28 terrorists were merely a fraction of
the estimated 40,000 Palestinians who enter Israel illegally every day.
Some return to their homes every night, while others stay within the
Green Line, illegally, for days and sometimes weeks. En route to Israel,
they travel on roads the defense establishment is familiar with, they
often have set pickup points and transportation arrangements, and most
are employed regularly by the same Israeli employers. The majority of
these Palestinians have nothing to do with terrorism -- all they want to
do is provide for their families.

Civil Administration data suggest 61,000
Palestinians hold valid work permits allowing them to enter Israel, and
an additional 27,000 Palestinians have permits allowing them to work in
Jewish communities across Judea and Samaria. Palestinians applying for
work permits in Israel must be specifically requested by their Israeli
employers before they are vetted by the defense establishment.

Defense officials have repeatedly noted that
the fact Palestinians are granted work permits in the midst of the
current surge in violence serves as a mitigating factor that curtails
terrorism, adding that were Israel to comprehensively deny or revoke
such permits, these Palestinians would be rioting on the streets and
clashing with Israeli security forces. So far, only two of the terrorist
attacks that have taken place over the past six months were carried out
by Palestinian workers allowed into Israel.

Palestinians denied an official work permit
have good reason to infiltrate Israel, where they are paid about 200
shekels ($50) for a day's work -- double what they make working in
Palestinian cities. Infiltration also nixes the need to arrive at IDF
checkpoints in the very early hours of the morning, for the routine
security screening.

Despite statements to the contrary, prior to
the current wave of terrorism Israel took only minimal steps against
Palestinian infiltrators. The defense establishment's premise was that
the Israeli economy needed Palestinian day laborers, whose employment
alleviated the dire economic situation across the West Bank, which in
turn curtailed Palestinians' desire to carry out terrorist attacks. But
as the violence refuses to ebb, and as reality proves that more and more
Palestinian infiltrators are involved in terrorist attacks within the
Green Line, the defense establishment has come to realize the flow of
terrorists into Israel must be stopped.

A senior officer with the IDF's Judea and
Samaria Division told Israel Hayom that the military goes to great
lengths to prevent Palestinians from infiltrating Israel but he also
admitted that given the other major threats facing Judea and Samaria's
Jewish communities and roads, the matter was simply not a top priority.

With the exception of specific areas making up
the security fence, which are still under construction, the majority of
the fence across Judea and Samaria has been completed. The fence
however, is constantly sabotaged and according to defense officials the
damage amount to hundreds of thousands of shekels a month, and the
breached fence allows Palestinians to infiltrate Israel illegally.

"In many cases, where the fence is intact we
are able to detain infiltrators. The fence indicates [breaches], and we
have scouts and patrols. Prevention rates are high. We know their routes
and they know they have to work hard to infiltrate Israel.
[Palestinian] Infiltrators are always on our radar but we have other
threats in the sector. Even if I had two additional battalions in the
sector right now I would use them for other assignments, not to catch
infiltrators, because I think we're doing well in that department," he
said.

Commenting on the fact that the Jaffa and
Petach Tikva attacks were carried out by Palestinian infiltrators, he
said, "We don't have a hermetic seal. We're not happy about it but we
make sure to draw the necessary conclusions from any event and adapt how
we operate accordingly."

The infiltration problem, he admitted, "is
multitiered because there is legislation to consider. Theoretically you
can arrest a Palestinian infiltrator and indict him, but practical
reality is slightly more complex. There are times when the police let
them go, depending on whether or not they're repeat offenders, and
sometimes they are fined."

Another military official noted that often
after the military arrests Palestinian infiltrators, "no one comes for
them. There's nothing we can do in such cases. They [the infiltrators]
are suspected of having committed a criminal offence, not of
participating in terrorist activity, so it's out of the military's
hands."

The Israel Police said in a statement, "In
general, the Israel Defense Forces is responsible for border protection,
including any operations and checkpoints along the security fence, to
prevent individuals from illegally entering Israel. This is complemented
by focused enforcement by the Israel police against those who have
managed to infiltrate Israel despite the IDF's efforts. Such offences
are subject to strict, unwavering enforcement, including punitive
actions against those who employ, drive, or harbor illegal Palestinian
infiltrators. It should be noted that in the past 24 hours alone, police
and Border Police forces have arrested over 250 illegal Palestinian
infiltrators, 12 drivers, and 15 employers. The police files thousands
of indictments in the matter every year."

The police statement noted that "enforcement
is pursued in several spheres, from the security fence inward toward
city centers, while paying special attention to construction sites and
other popular urban areas, so to ensure all security aspects pertaining
to public safety are addressed. Tens of thousands of investigations are
launched every year over illegal infiltration and in cases where there
is a proven threat, as determined by set criteria, suspects are
arrested, arraigned, and prosecuted accordingly.

"It is important to note that as the courts
are usually lenient on infiltrators -- unless they are repeat offenders
-- the police focus the majority of their efforts on employers, drivers,
and those who harbor infiltrators, who are subjected to serious
administrative measures, including for example, shutting down
construction sites."

Where there's a will, there's a way

Authorities understand that one of the most
effective ways to deal with the phenomenon of illegal Palestinian
infiltrators is by dealing with their Israeli employers.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is
currently promoting legislation seeking to significantly aggravate
punitive actions taken against Israelis who employ illegal Palestinians
infiltrators. According to this bill, which has already passed its first
Knesset reading, employers would face prosecution and hefty fines, the
police will be granted administrative authority to shut down a business
or a construction site employing illegal infiltrators for up to 30 days,
and the court will be able to revoke their business license or
construction permit.

"Those who employ illegal Palestinian
infiltrators place Israeli lives at risk. The current wave of terrorism
has proven once again how dangerous it is that illegal infiltrators are
present on construction sites and in city centers. Their employment is a
nationwide plague that is the result of lenient enforcement. We have to
prosecute those who employ or harbor illegal Palestinian infiltrators
to the full extent of the law, and make sure it is simply not worth it
to them to risk Israeli lives for greed," Edran said.

The involvement of illegal infiltrators in the
current surge in violence makes things difficult not only for the
Israeli security forces but also for the Palestinians themselves,
especially those who have valid work permits.

"All most of us want is simply to make an
honest living, which is virtually impossible in the Palestinian
Authority," Abdullah, an illegal infiltrator from a village near Jenin,
who sells sandwiches to those traveling through the Gilboa checkpoint
north of the Palestinian city, told Israel Hayom.

"I'm here every day from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. If I
make 100 shekels [$26] in 12 hours I say, 'Praise Allah.' Until a few
months ago, before the terrorist attacks began, the soldiers would let
us go through to the other side of the checkpoint and sell food and
drinks to the Israelis as well, so we made more money. But ever since
the attacks began anyone trying to go through the checkpoint risks his
life. I can sell only to the Palestinian workers going through the
checkpoint and they count every shekel they spend."

Muhammad, an illegal infiltrator who works in
fields in the western Galilee, says trying to stop Palestinians from
infiltrating Israel would prove nearly impossible.

"Someone who needs to provide for his family
will do anything and everything for that. I know Palestinians and
Israelis who keep coming up with new and creative ways to get into the
Green Line and to smuggle Palestinian workers into Israel. Some pay
people who take them to certain areas along the [security] fence, where
it's easier to infiltrate [Israel] and others hide in specially-built
hidden compartments in cars," he said.

Infiltrating Israel, however, has become much
harder since the onset of the current wave of terrorism, and Muhammad
said smugglers have doubled their usual fee.

"If, say, a year ago any Palestinian worker
without a permit wanted to get into Israel he would pay somewhere
between 200 and 300 shekels [$50 and $80]. Today it's about 600 or 700
shekels [$150 or $180] per person. Those who use smugglers who take them
to where you can breach the fence on foot pay a little less, but we're
still talking about several hundred shekels a person. That's why the
majority of illegals prefer not to return to the West Bank [at night]
and stay on the farms, or the construction sites that employ them."

Undocumented Palestinian workers can be found
working Israeli fields in the country's north and south, and on
construction sites nationwide.

"There are almost thirty of us living in sheds
near the fields we work on. Most of us don't go home for months. In
better times before the attacks, we would bring our families and
children to be with us and help us. But now when the police and the
Border Police raid construction sites almost every day it makes no sense
to bring our families here. I haven't seen my wife and children for
almost 6 months, and I have no intention of going back to my village
right now because I know infiltrating Israel again would be very
expensive and chances are we'll be caught," he said.

According to Rassem, the majority of
Palestinian workers are familiar with how the police and Border Police
look for illegal infiltrators, which makes it easy for them to avoid
capture.

"Agricultural areas and construction sites are
full of hiding places. Sometimes the cops walk or drive right by us and
they have no idea that there are 10 or 20 Palestinian workers hiding
right under their noses," he said.

Undocumented workers and their employers have
developed systems to fool the police: "We take turns -- five of us
volunteer to get caught to save the remaining 20 or 30. The police are
happy and they leave the area. For the most part those detained are even
given a ride to whatever checkpoint gets them home. After a few days go
by, we collect a little money from everyone, to pay for those who were
captured to be smuggled back into Israel."

Muhammad and Rassem both said that for the
most part, their Israeli employers, and others who pay to have
Palestinian workers smuggled into Israel, see it as a cost-effective
venture, although they have their reservations.

"If, heaven forbid, the illegal worker carried
out a terrorist attack than his employer or the person who smuggled him
[into Israel] could be in a lot of trouble," Rassem said. "But in
routine times this is a win-win situation for everyone: the smugglers
make a lot of money, hundreds or even thousands of shekels every day;
the employers get cheap labor -- much cheaper than any foreign worker;
and the Palestinian workers are able to make an honest living and
provide for their families.

"If Israel were to allow more Palestinians into the
Green Line to work and make an honest living, the number of terrorist
attacks would drop. Even now, in this wave of terrorism, the majority of
terrorists were not illegals, but high school students [university]
students and women," he said.